Helical coil antennas are well known in the art and are particularly widely used in communications systems in the megahertz and gigahertz range, such as in cellular telephones. An example of such a helical antenna designed for use in a personal communication device may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/541,913, which is assigned to the assignee of the present patent application, and whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
Helical antennas typically comprise a coil wound around a central core. The process of winding the core is a complicated and expensive process, generally requiring production and assembly of multiple parts and precision winding of a fine wire. There is a need to simplify this manufacturing process, in order to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of the antenna.